Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2016-1236
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedMultiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in (1) revision.php, (2) log.php, (3) listing.php, and (4) comp.php in WebSVN allow context-dependent attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the name of a (a) file or (b) directory in a repository.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceMultiple stored XSS vulnerabilities exist in WebSVN's revision.php, log.php, listing.php, and comp.php files where user-controlled file and directory names from a repository are rendered without proper sanitization or output encoding, allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts or HTML that execute in victim browsers.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 8.0all versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify WebSVN installation existsLocate websvn directory on the system - common paths include /usr/share/websvn, /var/www/websvn, or check web server document root for websvn folder. Also check for websvn package via package manager (dpkg -l | grep websvn or apt list --installed | grep websvn).Affected if WebSVN is installed on the system.
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Check WebSVN versionIf WebSVN is installed, check the version by looking at the VERSION file in the websvn directory, or check the package version via dpkg -l (for Debian package) or examine the header comments in the main PHP files.Affected if Any version of WebSVN is installed - the vulnerability affects all versions.
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Confirm affected PHP files are presentVerify the existence of the vulnerable files: revision.php, log.php, listing.php, and comp.php in the WebSVN installation directory under the include or root folder.Affected if These PHP files exist in the WebSVN installation.
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Check if WebSVN is web-accessibleDetermine if the web server is serving the WebSVN installation by checking web server configuration files (Apache nginx config) or attempting to access the WebSVN URL (http://[host]/websvn/).Affected if WebSVN is accessible over the network and serving repository data.
A user is affected if WebSVN is installed and accessible, as all versions of WebSVN contain the stored XSS vulnerability in the listed PHP files where repository file/directory names are rendered without sanitization.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataImplement context-aware output encoding/sanitization for all file and directory names retrieved from repositories before rendering in HTML pages, and consider adding input validation at the point where repository data is displayed.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1236 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-1236 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data